Love and desire, death and redemption.
"Don Juan", the most charming and immortal image in the history of Western literature and art, is presented in a musical for the first time. "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" director Gilles Maheu is another masterpiece, and the performance comes to China for the first time in 20 years!
Introduction to the play
The original French musical "Don Juan" was created by French composer Felix Gray in 2003, and was put on the stage in 2004 by Gilles Mathieu, the director of the French musical "Notre Dame de Paris". It has been performed in France, Canada and other places The performances have been a huge success. They have been performing continuously for 20 years, with 600,000 viewers around the world and more than 300,000 music sales.
The musical gives a modern understanding of the "Don Juan" story, downplaying the religious elements in previous "Don Juan"-themed works, and interpreting the character of Don Juan and his story more from a human perspective. Through songs and dances, the inner activities and changes of the characters are dramatically revealed. Don Juan's transformation from a cynical playboy to his final death for love is the most ordinary, and it has caused every ordinary person from ancient times to the present to fall into love and hatred.
The story takes place in the ancient Spanish city of Seville. Don Juan, a young aristocrat, is suave but morally corrupt. He hunts for women and pursues a moment of pleasure. Don Juan seduced the daughter of the knight leader, and the knight leader dueled with him and was killed by him. The knight leader turned into a stone statue after his death, and cursed Don Juan to die for love. Don Juan seduces the noble girl Elvira with the promise of marriage, but later abandons her. Soon, Don Juan seduced the fiancée of the gypsy singer Chico, the beautiful dancer Andalouse, and abandoned her after a night of love.
Don Juan didn't believe in true love until one day he fell in love with the female sculptor Maria at first sight, and Maria couldn't help but fall in love with him. But when her fiancé Raphaël returned from the battlefield, the jealous Elvira told him that Maria had moved on to another woman. Raphaël was tortured by the pain of broken love and decided to challenge Don Juan in a duel. Revenge, Maria was almost desperate in the entanglement between new and old love. In order to defend the honor and faith of the knight, Don Juan accepted the marriage with the knight despite the dissuasion of his friend Don Carlos and his father Don Luis. Raphael's Duel. Don Juan couldn't bear to hurt Raphael and make Maria sad, so when he was in an obvious advantage, he threw away his sword and was stabbed to death by Raphael. Don Juan chose to die for love and leave love in this woman's heart forever.
An exotic romantic affair
Don Juan is known as one of the "Four Immortal Figures" in the history of Western literature. He is a legendary figure from Spanish folktales. He is an aristocratic playboy known for his romance, and he deals with the lustful affairs among countless aristocratic women. Disciple is synonymous with love saint. The earliest record of the story of Don Juan is El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster and the Rocker of Seville) by Tirso de Molina. Over the past hundreds of years, there have been more than a thousand literary, drama, music, film and other artistic works about Don Juan, including French playwright Molière, British poet Byron, musicians Mozart, and Richard Strauss And so on, they all gave their own interpretations of him in different genres and languages in different eras.
At the beginning of the 21st century after the unprecedented success of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", a large number of successful high-quality plays emerged in the French musical market. Most of these works are based on literary masterpieces or adaptations of historical figures and events, and the musical "Don Juan" also came into being.
20 years of unfailing success, a classic French musical not to be missed
In 2024, the musical "Don Juan" will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its premiere. In the past 20 years, the play has been performed in France, Canada, South Korea and other places with great success. In 2016, the Japanese version was produced and staged by the famous Takarazuka Opera Company.
"Don Juan" contains a large number of golden songs worthy of a single cycle, as well as strong rhythmic and dreamy flamenco dance and brightly colored guitar syllables, as well as occasional Spanish songs interspersed in it, full of rich and charming Spanish style. Through these songs and dances, the inner activities and changes of the characters are dramatically revealed.
The songs "Du Plaisir" and "Les Femmes" from the show also topped the Canadian charts for several weeks.
The beautiful scenery of "Don Juan" is dreamy and gorgeous, like an Impressionist oil painting. The huge stone statues and the eerie lighting schedule enhance the magical effect.
Musically, almost every song is worthy of a single rotation. With the strong rhythmic flamenco dance and brightly colored guitar syllables, as well as the occasional Spanish songs interspersed, this musical is full of rich and charming Spanish style. It is unique among the French musicals that mainly feature pop and rock styles.
In 2024, "Don Juan" will be starred by Gian Marco Sciaretti, a top actor in French musicals. At the 2023 French musical star gala concert, many viewers became fans of Ji'an Lu. His powerful stage aura and superb singing ability captured many fans.